The State of Play
The Kolkata Knight Riders will look to maintain their recent fine form and take another step closer to securing a place in the IPL 2024 play-offs with victory over the Mumbai Indians tomorrow.
KKR have won four of their last five games to move to the top of the table on 16 points from 11 games.
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Young paceman Harshit Rana credits their upturn to the return of former captain Gautam Gambler as team mentor.
Rana told Sportskeeda: “He has a lot of knowledge on how to turn games in our favour, and it helps us a lot in the middle. This entire season, we have been focusing a lot on the style of cricket Gautam wants us to play.”
The approach is certainly working – they were outstanding in their last game, a 98-run defeat of the Lucknow Super Giants.
Captain Shreyas Iyer said afterwards: “The last six matches in the dressing room there has been havoc, team-mates are coming in and asking what’s happening, we are losing tosses, but we are winning games and that’s what matters.”
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The same cannot be said for Mumbai, who became the first team to be eliminated from post-season contention after Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Lucknow.
It has been a miserable first season under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya. They do come into this game on the back of a win, though, while some of their India players will be eager to finish the season well before they head to the United States and Caribbean for the T20 World Cup.
Suryakumar Yadav is in fine form, evidenced by his 102 not out against Sunrisers last time out, while Jasprit Bumrah has been their stand-out bowler.
Rohit Sharma and Pandya himself could do with some morale-boosting performances before boarding the plane.
One last time this season, dekha hobe aabar #KnightsArmy! 💜 pic.twitter.com/YVduwuepga
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 10, 2024
Expected line-ups
Kolkata Knight Riders: Salt (wk), Narine, Raghuvanshi, Russell, Rin Singh, S Iyer (c), Ram Singh, V Iyer, Starc, Rana, Chakravarthy
Mumbai Indians: Kishan (wk), Sharma, Dhir, Yadav, Varma, Pandya (c), David, Kamboj, Chawla, Bumrah, Thushara
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Saturday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Gearing up for #KKRvMI 💪#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/yHvl116FTZ
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) May 10, 2024
Prediction
Much will depend on Mumbai’s motivation given their elimination has been confirmed. However, personal pride should mean they present a formidable challenge to KKR.
The home side possess the greater confidence but closing in on a post-season place could bring some nerves into their play.
We are going for the Indians to spring a surprise.
